Bathing accessory



March 27, 1956 HERMAN BATHING ACCESSORY Filed June 1, 1953 INVENTOR. lows HERMAN BY M! flMTOR/VEY United States Patent BATHI'ING ACCESSORY Louis Herman, Detroit, Mich.

Application June 1, 1953, Serial No. 358,597

1 Claim. (Cl. 15-244) This invention relates to an improved bathing accessory and more particularly to a simple, efficient and readily manipulable device for bathing the back section of the human body.

In its illustrated embodiment the present invention has the appearance of an elongated water retaining or spongelike member having a handle at each end thereof. Spongelike materials whether they be natural sponge, sponge rubber or synthetic sponge are characterized by a weakness in tensile strength, especially when wet. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved means for mounting and attaching the sponge material to the handles to ensure that the sponge material is not subject during use to excessive elongation leading to a rupture of the material. It is a further objective to preserve substantially the natural flexibility of the sponge material and yet protect the material against excessive twisting action which would also lead to a rupturing thereof.

Other objects and the features of construction of this invention will appear in the following description and appended claim, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

Fig. l is a fragmentary top elevation of a bathing accessory constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section taken through the lines 33 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 4 is a section taken through the lines 4--4 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Before explaining in detail the present invention it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

In the drawings there is illustrated by way of example a bathing accessory having spaced strap or strip members 10. Each strap member is preferably made of two layers of a fabric or canvas type material, the two layers ice being stitched together substantially the length of the straps except for a short section at each end thereof. Hand grip members 11 are attached to each end of the strap members 10. As most clearly shown in Fig. 4, a layer of canvas is positioned on each side of the rib section 12 of the hand grip and the two layers of canvas and the handle rib section 12 are securely fastened together as by rivets 13. The strap members 10 are sandwiched between two sponge layers 14, a suitable binder or cement 15 being used to hold the sponge layers together and against longitudinal displacement relative to the straps 10.

Although the illustrated embodiment is shown as having three spaced strap members 10 it will be understood that the number of strap members used is related to the width of the sponge layers. With relatively narrow sponges, two strap members 10 would be sufficient. With relatively wide sponge layers, four or more strap members 10 may be desirable.

In operation as a human back bathing device, the device would be placed behind the body and each handle 11 would be grasped. The device would then be manipulated back and forth across the back to accomplish the cleansing action. During such manipulation the handles 11 would be pulled upon in such a manner as to tend to stretch the device. The canvas straps 10 having relatively high tensile strength resist such tension and prevent the low tensile strength sponge material from being pulled beyond its tensile limit and thereby prevent the same from being ruptured or torn. .The spaced relationship of the straps 10 has also the advantage of preventing the device from becoming readily twisted although not substantially affecting the flexibility of the device.

I claim:

A bathing device comprising three spaced fabric strips formed of double thicknesses of material, hand grip members, two of said fabric strips being secured at each end thereof to opposite side portions of each hand grip member and the third strip being spaced substantially intermediate said two strips and secured at each end thereof to a hand grip member, said double thicknesses of material at the ends of said strips being split to receive the hand grip members therebetween, rivet means passing through said fabric thicknesses and securing the same to said hand grip portions, and two layers of water absorbent material sandwiching said fabric members therebetween, said layers being of sufficient length to overlie the rivet means attaching the fabric strips to the hand grip members, said water absorbent material layers being cemented to the fabric strips and to each other.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 506,869 Boardman Oct. 17, 1893 2,395,094 Booharin Feb. 19, 1946 2,485,899 McBreen Oct. 25, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS 496,580 Germany Apr. 24, 1930 

